It is too risky to relax the lockdown: UK PM Boris Johnson

While declaring that the tide is being turned on the coronavirus pandemic in the country, PM urged Britons to contain their impatience against the crippling lockdown

UK PM Boris JohnsonPIC: AFP

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday warned against relaxing the coronavirus restrictions too soon as the country was still facing a moment of "maximum risk", in his first remarks since returning to work after contracting the disease that has killed over 20,000 in the UK.

While declaring that the tide is being turned on the coronavirus pandemic in the country, he urged the British public to contain their impatience against the crippling lockdown.

"We are beginning to turn the tide.There are real signs we are passing through the peak," said Johnson, in an upbeat address to the nation on the steps of 10 Downing Street.

Johnson, 55, had been recuperating from his intensive care treatment at a London hospital earlier this month after he contracted the deadly virus. He returned to 10 Downing Street on Sunday evening from his prime ministerial countryside retreat at Chequers, where he had been based since his discharge from St Thomas' Hospital.